The New Fang Gang 'A Multiverse Adventure' Book 1
by Lawrence Payne
Summary: A new evil rises. The First Evil, fresh off its victory on Earth 371, plans to destroy life on all of the Earths. Ascended beings Daniel Jackson and Cordelia Chase with the help of Jonathan use the Stargate to assemble a new fighting force to save Multiv
1. Evil Triumphs

Title:The New Fang Gang (A Multiverse Adventure) Book 1: Chapter 1 of 4

Author: Lawrence Payne 1st Evil, Caleb, Jonathan, Tara, Gunn, Riley, Faith, Harmony, Daniel Jackson, & Cordelia Chase.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. A whole slew of other people own these characters and concepts.

Comments: Constructive feedback is always appreciated. :)

Summary: A BtVS/Angel/Stargate/Marvel Comics/Aliens/West Wing crossover with 24 & Tremors the Series elements. A new evil rises. The First Evil, fresh off its victory on Earth 371, plans to destroy life on all of the Earths in the Multiverse. Ascended beings Daniel Jackson and Cordelia Chase with the help of Jonathan use the Stargate to assemble a new fighting force to save Multiverse Earth. The New Fang Gang.

Author's Notes: This is an updated version of the original. A lot of small touches have been added and various parts have been completely rewritten. Hopefully (he says with both fingers tightly crossed), all of the errors have been found and fixed.

* * *

**The New Fang Gang**

**Book 1**:

Introductions Are In Order

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"The universe. A vast expanse of galaxies, star systems, and planets. Hundreds of thousands of worlds teeming with life. Ever-growing. Ever-multiplying. Ever-expanding. But soon, all of that may change."

"Hello fellow historians. My name is Uatu."

"I am a member of a race of cosmic beings known throughout the universe as the Watchers. Our calling is to document the history of the universe. We are sworn to observe and record, but never to interfere. I was chosen to watch this vibrant world known as Earth."

"I have become a student of this Earth and it has taught me many things. Courage, strength, compassion, love, and most importantly, the power of the human spirit."

"I study not just this world, but all of its varied realities as well. For every planet in the universe that is, or was, home to sentient life, there are a multitude of parallel worlds."

"We call these parallel worlds the Multiverse."

"What I watch today fills me with much trepidation. The forces of light and darkness have used the Earth as their battleground for centuries. After today, all of that will change."

"Upon one of the Earth's many planes of existence, an ancient and monstrous evil, banished from this world long ago, has returned. The greatest evil ever known to mankind has been reborn. This ultimate evil has created an army of hell beasts. This Army of The Old Ones will bring death and destruction if they are unleashed upon this hapless world."

"The forces of light have met the challenge."

"An army of New Slayers has been created to fight this evil. Both forces are currently engaged in battle, in a place that exists in-between this world's Hell dimension and the Earth. The few humans who know of its existence call it the Hellmouth."

"If the forces of light are victorious, a new age of peace will come to this timeline. In time, it will become a world free of demons and their hell spawn."

"If evil wins, the unthinkable will come to pass. All life on this plane will soon end and life on all of the other timelines will be in great peril."

"Come. Let us watch the battle."

* * *

**Chapter 1: **

Evil Triumphs

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**Earth 371. May 20, 2003. 9:49 AM PCT. USA. California. Sunnydale. The Hellmouth cave 50 feet beneath Sunnydale High School. **

Evil was on the rise.

"From beneath you it devours," was the phrase that haunted dreams and fueled nightmares. Malevolence and insanity enthralled the town of Sunnydale. Everyone felt the pull of the coming darkness. Those who did not succumb to the madness fled the city in fear. Only one woman stood ready to combat this new evil.

Her name was Kendra the Vampire Slayer.

A new breed of vampire, twice as savage and deadlier than any before, was about to be unleashed on an unsuspecting and defenseless world. Kendra knew the only way to stop an army of darkness was with an army of light.

The problem was, the forces of evil knew this too.

The Bringers, the foot soldiers of The First Evil's army, launched a counteroffensive. They planned to eliminate the Slayer line by systematically killing all of the potential Slayers.

With her Watcher's aid, Kendra spent the last three months gathering, protecting, and preparing all of the surviving potentials for the coming battle. With the power of the Scythe, 86 New Slayers were created from the ranks of the living potentials. Kendra then led her Army of New Slayers to this site to battle the ultimate evil. That was over an hour ago. The armies of darkness and light have been engaged in a fierce battle ever since.

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**11:09 AM PCT.**

Kendra fought three attacking Turok-Hans. Two were in front of her with swords, and a weaponless one -she had deprived it of its sword earlier in the battle- on her right. This was nothing new. In her six years as the Slayer, Kendra has fought multiple adversaries several times, but never have the stakes been this high.

To lose this battle would be to lose the world to darkness.

Kendra held the Scythe like a staff. She used it to block several incoming sword strikes. Not wanting to be left out, the Turok-Han on her right threw several straight-arm punches and jabs at her. Kendra managed to dodge or block all but one of the incoming blows. She rolled with the punch and continued fighting.

Kendra dodged an overhand sword strike from the vampire on her left before nailing the Turok-Han with a hard kick that knocked it back several feet.

The weaponless Turok-Han positioned itself to punch Kendra in the head, but it was only a feint. Its true intention was to hit her in the stomach with a right cross. The attack failed. Kendra recognized the deception and acted first. She hit the weaponless Turok-Han with an elbow strike to its temple before its attack could even begin.

Kendra did a quick backflip to give herself more room to fight. The change of position was just what she needed to gain the upper hand. She used the Scythe to block a sword strike before using the weapon to bunt the attacking Turok-Han on the chin. She then landed a round kick on its jaw, knocking the Turok-Han onto its back.

The other two vampires were back in action a second later. The weaponless one tried a roundhouse punch, but Kendra ducked. She nailed the attacker with another elbow strike, this time to the chin. She then blasted the second sword-wielding Turok-Han with a straight-leg front kick to the chest that forced it back. The first sword-wielding Turok-Han was on its feet now. It charged at her with an obvious and clumsy attack.

It was just the opening Kendra was waiting for.

Kendra sidestepped the attack with ease. When the Turok-Han went charging pass her, she kicked it in the middle of its back. The force from the blow sent the sword-wielding Turok-Han crashing into the weaponless one, knocking both off-balance.

Kendra changed her grip from staff to axe. She swung the Scythe with maximum force, quickly beheading both Turok-Hans, before changing her grip again and using the stake on the handle to dust the last one. Kendra felt a rush of satisfaction as she watched the three Turok-Hans turn into clouds of dust.

For the moment, the attacks on her had ceased. She used the pause in the action to survey the overall battle.

One of the New Slayers, a Chinese girl named Guan Xi Yin, went down when a Turok-Han overpowered her. It bit deep into her neck, quickly draining her blood. Another New Slayer, an American named Chloe, was stabbed in the stomach with a short sword. Despite these losses, the Slayers were winning. They held back the seemingly endless onslaught of Turok-Han.

"Keep the line together!" Kendra shouted. "Drive them back into the pit! If just one of them escapes..."

Kendra never finished that sentence.

A Turok-Han had snuck up behind her and ran a sword into her back. The blow had enough force to ram the weapon through her body and come out of her front.

The blade sliced Kendra's heart in two.

Blood soaked her black top as it poured from the open wound. The Leader of the New Slayer Army looked down. She stared in disbelief at the point of sharpened steel that was protruding from her chest.

Kendra took one step forward.

Fell face-first onto the ground.

And died.

A New Slayer named Faith called out to her. Faith disposed of the Turok-Han she was fighting with a powerful punch that sent it falling back into the pit. She ran over to her leader and knelt beside her. A young Asian New Slayer named Choa Ahn joined her a second later. Together, they tried to save Kendra, but it was no use. There was nothing anyone could do.

Panic ensued as the other New Slayers noticed, or in some cases just felt, the death of their leader. Most continued to fight, but some fled in terror. The fleeing New Slayers dropped their weapons as they ran for the entrance. When they reached the schools' main hallway, they discovered the horrible truth. Their exit was cut off. A large group of Bringers were guarding the entrance. The Bringers, lead by Caleb, slaughtered the surprised and unarmed girls with ease. After the short battle, Caleb led the Bringers into the ongoing battle within the Hellmouth. They attacked the still fighting New Slayers from the rear, forcing the girls to fight on two fronts.

The Army of New Slayers was outnumbered and outflanked; and now, they were fighting without their beloved leader.

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**11:41 AM PCT. **

An ominous quiet fell over the Hellmouth cave.

Vi, Faith, Rona, and Choa Ahn stood back to back. All four young women were bloody and wounded.

Vi had large globs of blood coming out of her forehead. A concussion caused her to wobble slightly as she stood.

Faith had serious internal injuries, she held her stomach as she intermittently coughed up blood. Her denim top was heavily stained with blood. Most of it was Kendra's, but a lot of it was her own.

Rona had two fully visible compound fractures on her left arm, making the limb almost useless.

And Choa Ahn was barely able to stand. She had fallen hard on her right side earlier in the battle. The fall had broken her right leg, broken her right arm and fractured three of her right side ribs. She held her right arm close to her side to protect her injured ribs as she wielded the Scythe in her left.

These four warriors were all that was left of the New Slayer army.

About sixty Turok-Hans, a dozen or so Bringers, and Caleb encircled the four girls. They were waiting for The First to give the final order to attack.

"I've got to admit," The First, in the form of Kendra, said to the battered girls. "You gals put on one hell of a show. But you just could not get the job done."

The New Slayers said nothing.

"Too bad about Kendra," The First taunted. "But it's OK. You'll be joining her soon."

Vi stuck her broad sword into the ground before she put her right hand on Faith's. Faith held it gently. Faith let go of her stomach and put her right hand on Rona's left. Rona tucked her oversized stake under her arm and held Choa Ahn's left hand. Choa Ahn returned the gesture. She released the pressure on her ribs and, keeping the Scythe in her hand, circled around to hold Vi's hand. The four warriors of light ignored the pain within their bodies as they raised their heads and stood in defiance. In unison, they recited their motto exactly as their leader had taught them.

"Into every generation, there are chosen ones! We alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness! We! Are! The Slayers!"

"Kill them."

The remaining New Slayers released their comrades' hands. They quickly grabbed their weapons and returned to a combat stance as the Turok-Hans, the Bringers and Caleb rushed in.

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**11:59 AM PCT. **

The First Evil walked among the piles of dead bodies and mounds of dust that littered the Hellmouth cave. It was all that remained of the Slayer legacy.

"Thank you," The First said to the corpses. It was still in the form of Kendra.

"It was... my pleasure..." Caleb purred as he basked in the glow of his victory. "My pleasure indeed."

"Not you," The First as Kendra said. "Them."

The look on Caleb's face was one of puzzled amusement.

"You? Are thanking them?"

"Yes. They have just given me everything I ever wanted."

The First walked over to Rona's dead body. She was the last New Slayer to fall. The demon reached down as if it was going to touch the dead girl.

Then, the impossible happened.

The First Evil grabbed Rona by the collar. And picked her up.

"What are you doing?" Caleb asked.

"Savoring my victory," The First answered. The First Evil pulled Rona's corpse close. It studied the bruises and wounds on the dead girl's face.

"Allow me to rephrase my question. How are you doing what you are doing?" Caleb was referring to The First Evil's sudden ability to interact with the physical world.

"I won. No more Slayers. They were the key. With the balance broken, evil reigns. So now, I get to come back. In the flesh as the old saying goes."

The First Evil licked some of the blood off of Rona's lifeless face, savoring the taste.

"I am whole again."

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**Earth 371. April 12, 2004. 2:29 PM PCT. USA. Washington State. Seattle. 1 year after The Great Hellmouth Battle. **

The city of Seattle had become a ghost town.

The sky held a bitter darkness. Hovering several miles above the city, a strange black mist blocked the afternoon sun. Storm clouds and huge billows of smoke added to the ominous darkness, turning day into night. A cold, harsh wind blew through the battered buildings, scattering dust and trash before it.

The devastation was endless. The streets and sidewalks of this once great city were now filled with debris. Rubble littered the formerly pristine streets alongside hundreds of overturned cars, downed streetlights and traffic signals. Amongst the debris were hundreds of thousands of dead bodies.

The bodies were horribly disfigured, necks broken, rib cages smashed, torsos twisted into ghastly shapes, large gapping bite marks clearly visible in their necks. Some looked to be at peace, but most held a look of pure horror permanently etched on their faces, a horrified corpse their final remnant of life on this world.

The pale light of the many fires created a soft eerie glow, giving the city its only illumination. The city reeked of death as the bodies of the fallen burned in the massive fires. The strong western state winds blew in earnest, fanning the flames and carrying the smell of burnt flesh to every corner of the city.

The famous Seattle rains put out most of the smaller fires, but the larger ones burned unheeded. The howling winds and the crackle of burning wood were the only sounds to be heard -that was, if anyone was still alive to hear them. This town belonged to the dead now.

A single human voice pierced the silence. It came from a battery-powered portable radio that had been hastily discarded on the sidewalk several hours earlier. The voice of a well-known female newscaster said:

"It has been 10 months since the war began, since the beings known only as vampires destroyed all of the major cities in California, Oregon, and Washington State. The Armed Forces and our allies in NATO have fought bravely and fiercely, but they have not been able to stop the onslaught of this seemingly invincible enemy."

"These deadly creatures have continued their eastward spread, reaching into Nevada and Arizona. Soon they will threaten Utah, Idaho, and Montana. If they cannot be stopped, then the rest of the Mid-West, and soon all of America, will be overrun."

"President Bartlet is currently in Denver talking with military officials. Afterwards, he will address the nation in a news conference."

"Wait a minute... New developments have just come in. I'm being told that the president will be making his speech earlier than expected. We are going to the Denver City Hall pressroom now. Live!"

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**Earth 371. April 12, 2004. 4:29 PM MDT. USA. Colorado. Denver. The Denver City Hall pressroom. 1 year after The Great Hellmouth Battle. **

The City Hall pressroom was a flurry of activity. Hundreds of reporters, --far more than the city building code allowed-- were crammed into the small structure. Everyone eagerly awaited the arrival of the President.

The General of the Army, the General of the Air Force, and the Fleet Admiral of the Navy stood on the small platform. The three military men answered questions before the president arrived.

"How many of these creatures are there?"

"That is unknown at this time."

"Has anyone tried to communicate with the creatures? Have they made any demands?"

"No to both questions."

"What about this black mist? It seems to precede every attack. Are these creatures afraid of, or damaged by, sunlight?"

"Intelligence reports do show that the enemy has some kind of sunlight aversion. We are unsure of sunlight's direct effect on these creatures because we cannot dissipate the mist. It is too thick to remove by regular means."

"Are these things alive or dead?"

There was a long pause as the three men looked at each other.

The General of the Air Force covered the microphone with his hand as the three men debated in hushed whispers. An odd silence fell over the room as the reporters tried their best to listen in. The military leaders returned their attention to the press.

The General of the Army leaned forward slightly to be closer to the microphone.

"We don't know," was all he said.

The silence continued.

The quiet abruptly ended when the main door of the pressroom opened. Five Secret Service agents escorted Josiah Bartlet, the President of the United States, into the room. Hundreds of reporters created a mass of chaotic human noise as they loudly shouted the words, "Mr. President!" Hundreds of cameras clicked off photos and more than 30 video cameras recorded his every move. The President ignored the shouts as he stepped onto the small stage.

His Press Secretary C. J. Cregg, his Secretary of Defense Ronald Young, and his Chief of Staff Leo McGarry were close behind. The military leaders saluted the Commander and Chief before they stepped away from the podium. President Bartlet returned their show of respect as he walked to the podium with the members of his cabinet in tow.

The cabinet members and the military leaders all stood behind the President in full view of the cameras. A subconscious message was being sent to the American people. It was a message of solidarity. It said that they stood with the President in these trying times. When Bartlet signaled he was about to speak, the room became quiet again.

"My fellow Americans."

"Thomas Paine wrote, 'These are the times that try men's souls.' He wrote those words in 1776. I doubt Mr. Paine could have known they would be remembered more than two centuries later. I doubt even more he could have foreseen that those words would have more meaning today than in his own time. And I also doubt he knew his nation would once again... have to fight for its very survival."

"Thomas' fledgling America faced a seemingly undefeatable enemy in the British. Everyone told him England was too big to be challenged; they were too powerful to be defied."

"They were wrong."

"America did challenge the British."

"And won."

"His words played an important part in that victory. They became a symbol of defiance. A call to action. A call to arms. I use them today in that same spirit. As a call to action! A call to arms!"

"These monsters push forward and we fall back. They destroy everything in their path and advance. And we fall back. These monsters will go as far as WE allow them to go! Well I Say NO MORE! The Line Must Be Drawn!"

"HERE! AND NO FARTHER!"

President Bartlet paused for a second to catch his breath. He discovered that he had a very tight grip on the podium. Unlike the brand new one he was use to in D.C., this podium was rather old and rather wobbly. He gave the aged hunk of wood a few good shakes and hit it with his fist several times during the 'no more' segment of his speech. Bartlet calmed himself, steadied the podium, and continued his speech.

"As a politician, one of the things they tell you to avoid, by 'they,' I mean the political analysts and the pundits, is talking about God and evil. I'm going to break that rule. Make no mistake. We are fighting evil here. Evil in its purest form."

"Some scholars and philosophers say pure evil does not exist. They're wrong. Pure evil does exist. It is the opposite of life. It is the destroyer of all of the things we hold dear. These beasts... these vampires... do nothing but destroy life."

"On the surface, they appear to be mindless monsters. But they attack with precision and forethought. The battle that took place in the city of Seattle proved that. They seem to instinctively know the weaknesses in our defense. The only answer to that problem is to not have any weaknesses in our defense. That is why I, along with the members of my staff and top military leaders, propose this. As an alternative to launching nuclear strikes on American soil, we will build a giant wall to contain these beasts. Yesterday, Congress and the House approved funding for the construction."

"The wall will be 20-feet-high and 2-feet-thick. It will be made of concrete and steel, and it will have manned gun emplacements every 150 yards. It will begin 100 miles west of the city of Phoenix. From there, it will stretch northward into Utah. Then it will reach into parts of Nevada and Idaho. On the northern end of Idaho, it will connect with the section of the wall our neighbors in Canada have already started building. On the southern end, the wall will run from Phoenix into Mexico about 80 miles west of Heroica Nogales. It will end at the Gulf of California. Construction of The Great Wall of Arizona, as it has been named, has already begun."

"Know This! We will need every ounce of this nation's strength and determination in the coming days. We will hold back the coming darkness. No matter how long it takes."

"No matter what the cost. Be it money, resources, or human lives."

"We will hold back the darkness."

"We! Will! Prevail!"

The pressroom exploded with cheers and applause as everyone jumped to their feet. All of the reporters and press crews rejoiced in the President's words.

Two people in the room did not cheer. A young black woman and a priest stood in the back of the room. They had listened to the speech in silence. When it was over, both quietly left out the back door.

"I can not believe you are going to let that man talk to you like that?" Caleb asked.

"I will deal with President Bartlet when the time is right," The First Evil, still in the form of Kendra, said. "All in good time my friend. All in good time."

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**Earth 371. June 6, 2006. 1:09 PM EST. USA. Washington D.C. 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. 3 years after The Great Hellmouth Battle. **

Outside the White House.

The screams of the dying were everywhere. An eerie black mist filled the sky, blocking the midday sun. The city burned. The air was thick with smoke from the burning buildings, smashed military vehicles, and destroyed civilian and police cars. The fires had created a swell of heat that had turned the city into a scene from Dante's Inferno.

A war raged.

Hundreds of thousands of Turok-Hans and Bringers caused death and devastation as far as the eye could see. The bodies of millions of soldiers, police officers and civilians were strewn throughout the streets. Destroyed tanks, downed helicopters, and a variety of other damaged or destroyed military vehicles and equipment littered the once beautiful landscape of the nation's capital.

Inside the White House.

A Turok-Han fed off of the blood of C. J. Cregg. Another removed the right leg of a black male White House intern with a sword to stop him from running away. Two others beat a young soldier to death as he fired his M-16. A fourth Turok-Han killed a screaming blonde woman named Donna Moss with a short sword. A Bringer rammed an axe into the head of a Secret Service agent, while two more held down and stabbed the Deputy Chief of Staff, Josh Lyman, with short, jeweled knives.

The Chief of Communications, Toby Ziegler, was lying on his back on the State Department floor. Several minutes earlier, a Bringer wielding a large axe had removed his legs. He was trying to keep his intestines from spilling out onto the floor. His efforts were in vain. The harder he tried to scoop his blood-soaked entrails back into his body, the faster they poured out.

Ten more Turok-Hans and Bringers rampaged within the offices of the White House, destroying everything in their sight.

From a bunker several miles beneath the White House, President Bartlet sat in his command chair and watched the monitors in horror. He took solace in the fact that everyone had performed their duties with valor.

Since this ordeal began three years ago, President Bartlet has been witness to countless acts of bravery, courage and heroism beyond words. Even though the names and faces of the fallen had numbered in the thousands, he knew he would never forget them. Soldiers who valiantly fought to the last man to protect him and defend their fellow citizens. Police officers who fought and died along side their military counterparts trying to drive back the invading horde while still working to keep the peace. Rescue workers who had risked their lives to save others. And then there were the people. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary American citizens fought courageously to protect their homes and families.

Of all the things President Bartlet had seen, he would never be able to forget the courage, bravery and sacrifice of his staff. Their spirit was unmatched. They stayed at their post until the very end, working feverishly to gather information and coordinate the fighting, what little of it there still was. It made him proud, proud to be an American, and proud to be a human being.

Any one of the acts of valor and courage he had seen would make great tales of heroism and self-sacrifice that would rival anything created in Hollywood. All that was needed was for someone who observed it to live long enough to tell the tale. Bartlet knew it was not going to be him. He found an odd comfort in that fact.

This evil force had completely overrun his beloved country in less than three years. Now it was threatening to destroy what remained of the rest of the world. Part of him envied the fallen. For them, the hard part was over; for him, the nightmare was just beginning.

"You've lost," a female voice said.

He remembered he was not alone.

The voice of The First Evil, now in the form of Bartlet's recently deceased wife Abigail Bartlet, broke President Bartlet out of his stupor.

"No more Joint Chiefs," The First taunted as it calmly paced next to him. "No more Pentagon. No more military... No more United States of America... It's all gone."

The First paused for a second. It leaned against the console as it continued its taunts.

"After all of your blustering speeches. After all of your bold talk of destroying me. I stand here victorious, and you sit there. Impotent. And afraid."

The First knelt next to the President's chair. In a mock romantic gesture, Abigail put her arms around his neck. Bartlet kept his eyes glued to the monitors, the horrors on the screens a more comforting sight than the horror in the room with him.

"What happened?" The First continued. "Where did it all go wrong? Let's recap shall we. Your Great Arizonian Wall was a failure. Your plan to move Congress overseas ended in disaster. And my minions are feasting on the members of the House as we speak.

"But you. You are the real story here. You're the one who got everyone killed. Your friends, your family, your staff. You killed them all. Ohhh, and don't forget the soldiers. You sent hundreds of thousands of brave American soldiers to their deaths in hundreds of futile attempts to stop me. You even did the unthinkable. You ordered nuclear strikes on American soil. How many innocent people do you think you killed with those strikes? A million? Two million? Ten million? So much death. So much blood on your hands. How do you cope with it all?"

The First gently rubbed her nose against Bartlet's cheek as she softly hummed the song Wing Beneath My Wings. It was something Bartlet's former wife did to comfort him. Now, in the hands of this demon, it was nothing but torture.

The First stood up, and walked over to the main console.

"I will say this, the wall idea was good. It might have worked. If I didn't have this."

The First showed Bartlet the large red crystal it held in its' right hand.

"It's called the Crystal of Ne'rafi. It can transport my minions and I anywhere in the world. Even to different dimensions."

The First Evil studied Bartlet's face.

"Don't beat yourself up too much. There's no way you could have known."

The First then turned its attention at the satellite feed.

"The missiles should be here in... about... 20 minutes I'd guess. Funny how your new Russian friends, and the rest of the world for that matter, were so quick to destroy you."

"We told them too," Bartlet said, finally breaking his silence. "They were told..."

"...To launch a full nuclear attack against the United States, without fear of reprisal, if they lost contact with the White House," The First quickly interrupted. "I know. But still, doesn't it bother you, just a little, that they get to live, and you are going to die? All alone? In a tiny room? Watching it all happen?"

"I, like the millions you've slaughtered, would give my life for my country! I do this not just for my country, but for all of the people of the!..."

The remainder of President Bartlet's impromptu speech will never be known. Caleb broke the President's neck before he could finish. Afterwards, he tossed the body to two waiting Turok-Hans.

"That man talks way too much," Caleb said.

"You should have let him finish. He's quite the speech giver."

"I heard my last speech the day I killed my bishop. Since then, they hold no joy for me."

The First started pushing buttons on the main console.

"What are you doing?" Caleb asked.

"Reinitializing the Automated Nuclear Response System. I wanted him to do it, but someone killed him before I had the chance to finish."

The look The First Evil shot Caleb was one of pure scolding. Caleb humbly nodded an apology. The First turned back to the screen.

"Lucky for you, I can access his memories now that he's dead."

The First pressed a large red button on the console. The words 'A.N.R.S. Initialized. Nuclear Strike Against US' appeared on the screen. The words 'In Progress' appeared below it in large red blinking letters as a mechanical buzzer rhythmically re-sounded. The words 'Authenticate Counterstrike Code' blinked in white at the bottom of the screen.

"I told her it was better my way," The First said, as it entered the codes. Its voice showed anger for the first time, possibly ever. "And now I am going to prove it."

The First Evil entered the final code and slammed its' fist down on the Enter key. The words 'A.N.R.S Active. Nuclear Counterstrike Under Way' appeared in green.

"I have never been one to question your infinite wisdom," Caleb said in his usual courteous and relaxed Southern manner. "But aren't you going to do something about those incoming missiles."

"No."

"But we'll be..." Caleb started to say.

"We're leaving," The First interrupted while showing him the crystal, "I told her..."

"Her?" Caleb inquired. It was now his turn to cut her off.

"God! I told God I was going to destroy everything she created. And now I have. But I have only destroyed all life on this world. It is time to move on to the next."

With that, The First held up the crystal. A stream of glowing red energy emanated from the gem, quickly covering the pair. Seconds later, the duo disappeared into a distant dimension.

Five minutes later, a nuclear missile struck the White House.

* * *

**The Celestial Plane.**

"Ohhh!" the ascended being known as Daniel Jackson said in a worried voice as he surveyed the destruction of Earth 371. "We have a serious problem here. We have to tell The Powers That Be about this immediately."

"Duhh!" the ascended entity known as Cordelia Chase said as she also observed the destruction of Earth 371. Becoming a heavenly being did nothing to curb her usual sarcasm.

"What is it with you big brain types always stating the obvious? I'm already on it."

Heavenly Cordy closed her eyes and concentrated. For a few minutes there was nothing but silence on the Celestial Plane. Suddenly, Cordy's eyes sprang open.

"Uh Oh!"

"Uh Oh?" Daniel inquired.

"Problem!"

"Problem? What problem?"

"The Powers. They can't find them."

"Find who?"

"The Scoobies."

"Scoobies?" Daniel's emotions bordered on angry.

"The Scooby Gang that successfully dealt with The First Evil three years ago. They can't find them. Last The Powers saw, they were scattered all over the world. All of them haven't been in the same place since."

"What about Angel and his crew?"

"Unknown. After the gang took on the Black Thorns, they just disappeared. We still haven't heard from any of them." Cordy's face suddenly showed a great deal of sadness.

"Then we'll have to use the SGC. I'll contact General Hammond."

"And say what? The worst evil in mankind's history just destroyed a parallel world. Send in the Marines! Come On Daniel! SG1 can't deal with this. They fight aliens, not demons. Besides, O'Neal is still trapped in suspended animation on the Atlantis outpost."

The two cosmic entities were quiet for a long time. Both were lost in their own thoughts. Daniel was the first to break the silence.

"Where's Dawn?" he asked.

"Why?" Cordy asked back.

"If we can't find or use the old teams, we'll have to assemble a new one."

"We can't use The Key for that sort of thing," Cordy stated. "The Deus Ex Machina rules clearly state that we comic entities, whether good or evil, cannot use or control a living being against their will. Humans must ask to be vessels. The Key is human now, so it has to ask for our help. Not to mention the fact that most of The Keys don't even know about their powers."

"You're Right!" Daniel exclaimed. His frustrations grew with every passing second.

Again, there was a long silence as both entities returned to their internal deliberations.

"I've got an idea," Daniel said.

* * *

END Chapter 1. 


	2. The Geek and the Witch

**Chapter 2: **

The Geek and the Witch

-----------------------------------

**Earth 329. June 6, 2006. 9:54 PM MDT. USA. Colorado. 10 miles below ground in the Cheyenne Mountain Military Complex.**

Lt. Jonathan Levinson sat in his usual chair in the StarGate Command science lab. He wore his usual clothing, a standard white lab coat, a brown tweed suit, a Sherlock Holmes cap, and a Victorian Era style pipe. He smoked his pipe as he stared into the microscope.

Suddenly, he had a revelation.

"Pfaffia Paniculata," he shouted to no one in particular.

All of his colleagues rushed to his side.

"The cure for Cancer is in the Pfaffia Paniculata plant!" he declared.

"Its family is Amaranthaceae. Its genus is Pfaffia. Its species is paniculata. And its common name is Brazilian ginseng. The root of the plant contains beta-ecdysterone. When this chemical is introduced into the body, it causes cancer cells to shrink and eventually destroy themselves; thus curing the body of its cancerous growths with absolutely no side effects."

Cheers of joy and celebration were heard as all of Jonathan's colleagues began to applaud. People shouted "Bravo!" and "Genius!"

Jonathan reveled in the admiration of his peers.

"I wish I could be as smart as him," was heard from the mechanical voice box of Dr. Steven Hawking.

"Jonathan Levinson, you are the most incredible man in the world," said long dead 1962 Nobel Prize winner James Dewey Watson.

"He certainly is," Colonel Samantha Carter said in a sultry voice.

At that moment, everyone in the room vanished. The lab was suddenly empty. The room went from being well lit to a warm, romantic dim, as all of the tables, chairs, instruments and computers instantly disappeared.

Jonathan changed also. His suit and coat were gone, replaced by a blue Speedo. His chair disappeared too. He found himself waist deep in warm water at the Grotto in the Playboy Mansion.

The Colonel began to change as well. As she gently pulled on the collar of her Air Force uniform, the fabric fell away. All that remained was a bright yellow 2-piece bikini bathing suit. She jumped into the water and swam over to him.

When she emerged, she was a vision of feminine beauty.

"Colonel..." Jon started to say. Sam put her finger over his mouth to hush him.

"Samantha," she corrected.

"Samantha," Jonathan crooned. "You know this is against regulations."

"I don't care," she replied, her voice full of desire. "I need you Jonathan. I need you right now!"

Sam wrapped her arms around Jonathan and gave him a passionate full mouth kiss. Jonathan returned her kiss as he held her in his arms. He lovingly caressed her smooth skin as it flushed red in response to his touch. He ran his hands through her silky blonde hair. The smell of White Diamonds perfume filled his nostril, driving his passion to even greater lengths.

"Make love to me Jonathan!" Sam whispered in his ear.

"Yes, my love," he lustfully replied.

As their bodies intertwined, Samantha cried out, "OHHH JONATHAN! You Are The Best!"

"I Know Baby! I Know!"

"Jonathan," Sam calmly said. Her voice was odd this time. It had lost all of its feminine softness. In fact, it sounded down right masculine.

"Jonathan!" the masculine voice repeated, a little louder than before. He ignored it and continued to make love to Samantha.

"JONATHAN!" The voice shouted. Jonathan suddenly felt something very strange in his arms. Sam's soft skin turned hairy and hard. He broke the kiss and looked down at his partner only to discover that Sam was gone. In her place was the very male body of his best friend, Dr. Daniel Jackson.

The sound Jonathan made as he realized his horrible mistake was a cross between a womanly shriek and a doglike yelp. He quickly rolled onto his back and crab-walked out of the water into a corner. Once there, he curled up into the fetal position where he continued to make the yelping noise.

"Well, now that I have your attention," Daniel said.

"Da... Da... Daniel!" a near panicked Jonathan stammered.

"Yeah, it's me. Look, I don't have much time here, so..."

"You're gone man! You're dead! I saw..."

"You didn't see me die. You saw me ascend to a higher plane. Now listen..."

"No! No! No! This ain't happening! Bring Samantha back!" Jon demanded in a loud, yet still puny, voice.

"Jonathan!" Daniel commanded, as he stood up in the grotto. He grabbed Jonathan by his upper arms and shook him. "Listen to me! You're dreaming."

"Dreaming!" Jonathan finally understood. It did not give him much comfort.

"_Since I just made out with my best friend in a dream,"_ he silently wondered, "_does that mean I'm gay?"_

"Yes. You're dreaming. Now listen. I don't have much time. You have to use the Stargate to gather some people for me."

"Gather people?" Jonathan puzzled. "Use the Stargate? What are you talking about?"

"You have to use the Stargate to travel to different dimensions and put together a band of heroes to save the Multiverse Earths."

"Multi... What?"

Daniel let out a long sigh.

"I didn't want to do this," Daniel said out loud to no one but himself, "but I guess I don't have a choice."

Daniel then took a step back and leapt at Jonathan. Jonathan screamed as Daniel's body became translucent. The ghostly form of Daniel's body then dove into the middle of his forehead.

--------------------

Jonathan sprung out of his bunk in a cold sweat. He desperately looked around for any signs of Daniel, Sam, or the grotto. He did not find any. All he saw was his quarters.

"What's wrong with you?" his bunkmate Eddie asked.

"Nothing," he replied in a shaky voice. "Just a weird dream."

Jonathan looked down at his bedside table. He noticed the picture of Daniel, Jason, and himself at the Inca dig in Mexico. Everyone in the photo was smiling as Jon displayed the fully intact ceremonial pot he had uncovered. It was the first great discovery of Jonathan's archeological career. He studied the beaming smiles on the faces of his friends as he fondly remembered the day.

Jonathan picked up the framed photo. As he stared at it, he recalled the day he met Daniel and Jason at college. He remembered Daniel's speech about the joys of archaeology, and how Daniel had convinced him to switch majors. He remembered the day Daniel had asked him to join the SGC. Jonathan was enthralled when Daniel told him about his adventure on another world. Jonathan knew he had to be part of this new frontier, so, at Daniels request, he agreed to join the Air Force. He was assigned to the SGC a year later.

"Eddie?" he asked as he gently put his picture back on the table.

"What?"

"If you have a dream that you're making love to a woman, and then the woman turns into a man and flies inside your head. Does that mean you're gay?"

Eddie stared at his bunkmate for a minute before he answered, "No, but pointing that thing at me does."

Eddie pointed to Jonathan's erection. It was evident through his loose-fitting boxers.

An embarrassed Jonathan quickly put on his Airmen's uniform and boots before he grabbed his access card and stormed out of the room.

"Glad I could help!" Eddie shouted to his back.

* * *

**Earth 123. June 6, 2006. Noon PCT. USA. California. Sunnydale. The Revello Cemetery. **

Tara Maclay came to this place often. Every day after classes and sometimes twice on the weekends, she would come here to visit her friends.

This time she brought flowers. She had not had the money for them yesterday, or the day before, but today was different. Her parents had finally come through with the cash and she was able to buy them.

The people at the local florist shop knew Tara by name. She came in at least three times a week. When she did, she always bought the same thing. Seven white orchids. They were Willow's favorites.

Tara carried her sadness with her everywhere. It was a part of her now, a natural extension of the woman she had become. Somehow, her loss seemed all the more real when she was here. Whenever she came to this graveyard, her general melancholy turned into a raw, aching sorrow. But still, as hard as it was, the pain only lasted for a few minutes. Afterward, a soothing stillness would come over her. This was the only place where she felt truly at peace. The sadness that constantly threatened to overwhelm her gave way to hope when she was here.

Tara knelt beside the row of graves. She placed one orchid on top of each tombstone. As she did, she would talk to her departed friends. Tara always visited Willow's headstone last. She had the longest talks with her. No one ever answered of course, -especially since there were no actual bodies in these graves, they were just headstones- but that did not matter to her. The headstones were all she really needed.

With her fingertips, she traced the name "Rosenberg" on the marble faceplate. The feel of the cold stone against her fingers always triggered the same memories.

She remembered the love of her life.

She remembered all of the happiness and the joy they had shared.

She remembered all of the love, the caring, and the nights of passion.

And she remembered the day it had all ended.

--------------

**August 23, 2005. 5:32 PM PCT. The home of Manny and Sheila Rosenberg.**

"Today's the day," Willow Rosenberg said as she stared at her reflection in her parent's bathroom mirror. She had already made this personal declaration earlier in the week. She said it now just to reinforce her resolve. It has taken her almost a month to work up the nerve. Although she was still on pretty shaky legs about her decision, she knew she had to go through with it. Now that the day was actually here, she found her strength weakening, but her resolve was still there, and it was as strong as ever.

"I am finally going to do it," Willow said. "Today, I am finally going to tell mom and dad the truth about us."

Willow had told her parents she needed to discuss something with them earlier in the week, so she and Tara had arranged this dinner at the Rosenberg home. They invited Buffy, Dawn, Xander and Giles too. She wanted the whole gang in the room to give the meeting a kind of party atmosphere. The real reason she invited them was so they could give her and Tara emotional support if they needed it, and to minimize the chance her parents would make a scene.

"It won't be that bad," Tara said as she shared the mirror with her lover. "They'll understand."

"You think so?" Willow turned from the mirror and looked at Tara directly.

"Sure," Tara said reassuringly, returning her gaze. "It'll be OK."

"What was yours like?"

"My what?"

"The time you told your parents you were gay, what was it like? How did they react?"

Tara did not answer her question. She suddenly found herself looking at a small crack in tile on the floor. Willow read her lover's emotions with a well-practiced ease.

"You never told them?" Willow asked.

"I will..." Tara tentatively answered as she slowly returned her gaze to Willow. "Someday... It will definitely be before the Earth stops spinning."

Willow's questioning stare continued.

"If I time it just right," Tara said, "the sun will explode right after."

A quick read of Willow's facial expression told Tara that her lover's doubts were returning.

"Your parents are great," Tara quickly said. She was eager to end this line of questioning and bring the conversation back to Willow. "I mean, they love you so much, and they want you to be happy. Right?"

"Right. And you..." Willow looked into Tara's beautiful blue eyes. As she held her lover's face in her hands, her resolve was instantly strengthened. "You make me happy."

"So they'll understand."

"They'll understand... Right?" Willow felt her resolve weakening again. She looked into Tara's eyes. Tara gave her one of those warm smiles that she loved so much. Her doubts instantly vanished.

"It'll be OK!" Willow declared, her resolve now fully in place.

"It will be OK," Tara echoed. She gave Willow a kiss to seal the deal.

Willow made one last nod to herself before she checked her hair and her dress in the mirror. Tara did the same. Once both women were satisfied with their appearance, and their decision, they returned to the small dinner party already underway in the dining room.

After a few minutes of preparation and a light discussion about the exact seating arrangements, everything was ready.

The table was set, the food was out, and everyone was seated in his or her proper place. Dinner was about to be served when Willow interrupted the proceedings.

"Mom. Dad. I have something very important to tell you." Willow steadied herself. "Tara and I are... Are... Umm? Well we're... Uaaa? You see... I'm..."

"You're what, honey?" Manny Rosenberg asked his daughter.

"She's leaving," Sheila Rosenberg declared. "She's going to switch to a college out of state and we'll never see her again."

Sheila was always jumping to the wrong conclusions.

"No!" Willow reassured.

"What's wrong with S.U.?" Mr. Rosenberg asked. He was not what one would call a great listener either.

"To be away from us, of course."

"What's wrong with us?"

"Nothing!" Willow shouted.

"She wants to stay out all night, drink alcohol, and have sex with the local boys," Mrs. Rosenberg declared. "She can't do that with us nearby."

"Wow Will. You weren't kidding about the whole 'jumping to the wrong conclusions' thing," Xander said. As usual, he tried to defuse a tense situation with humor and, as usual, it failed. No one laughed and the mood did not change. Everyone just stared at him. "You'll see the humor in that last sentence in a few minutes."

"I'm not changing schools Dad," Willow declared. "And I am not drinking or staying out all night."

"She did not deny the sex part," Mrs. Rosenberg decreed. "And she did say she wanted to talk to us about her new relationship. Ohh God! Honey, you're pregnant, aren't you?"

"What are you talking about? She's too young to have a baby."

"It happens all the time. Some handsome Lothario comes along, beds an impressionable young woman, and then leaves town. Leaving her to raise a baby all alone. Well don't you worry about a thing sweetie, we are here for you."

"Your mother's right sweetheart. We'll help you with whatever you need."

"Willow did mention the whole 'not big on the listening' thing?" Xander asked Tara.

"Once or twice," Tara timidly answered.

The conversation was loud enough to be heard by everyone. It shocked the Rosenbergs out of their self-inducted delusions long enough for them to start listening again.

"What is it then?" Mrs. Rosenberg asked.

Willow took a deep breath. She steadied herself again and prepared to speak. This time she held Tara's hand. But before she could utter a word, Willow saw the shadow of a man moving in the backyard through the patio doors.

"Buffy!" she said, alerting her friends to possible danger. Everyone got up and looked toward the patio.

In an instant, the family dinner became a nightmare.

The quiet ambience of the Rosenberg's home was replaced by the roar of gunfire. Automatic weapons fire entered the house from all directions. The noise was deafening. Bullets destroyed everything in their path. The deadly projectiles shattered windows, ripped through furniture and pierced delicate flesh, leaving death and destruction in their wake.

Everyone ducked as quickly as they could, but it was no use. There were just too many bullets to dodge.

The assault caught Willow and Tara by surprise, but the two women, both long time practitioners of Wiccan magic, were still able to defend themselves. Willow was shot in the arm and Tara took a bullet in her leg before they were both able to get protection shields around themselves.

Everyone else was not so lucky.

Buffy, Xander, Dawn, Giles and both of Willow's parents were shot multiple times in various parts of their bodies.

The wounds were fatal.

Both Willow and Tara tried to get force fields around their friends, but neither was fast enough nor powerful enough to do it. Their shields were barely strong enough to deflect the bullets coming at them.

And then, just as quickly as it had begun, it was over. The house was quiet again. In the span of less than a minute, four of the world's greatest heroes were dead, and Willow's life lay in ruins.

--------------------------

**5:45 PM PCT**

The neighbors called the police, who arrived a minutes. A sight of pure carnage greeted the officers as they arrived at the Rosenberg's home. Willow and Tara, the only survivors of this horrific attack, were lying on the dining room floor surrounded by six bullet-ridden, blood-soaked bodies. Both women were exhausted, the magic they had used to protect themselves had drained both their bodies and their minds.

Willow's lovingly pressed gold and brown floral print dress, and Tara's favorite purple and lavender dress-suit were soaked in blood. Both women had large splatters of it on their clothes, face and body. Some of the blood was theirs, but most of it had come from the others.

After some analysis, the police observed that over a thousand rounds were fired into the house.

---------------------------------------

**6:01 PM PCT**

Tara was being carried to the ambulance by a police officer when something else happened.

Willow began to change.

Willow was crying over her parents' bodies when she exploded in a rage of magic. Her eyes turned bright red as energy crackled around her. The fabric of reality itself began to warp. Some of the braver police officers and paramedics tried to grab her, but she repelled them with a force field, forcing them back several feet.

Several cops drew their firearms. Most were preparing to shoot, while others had already fired their weapons. The cop who was carrying Tara dropped her and went for his firearm.

"WILLOW!" Tara screamed, hoping to warn her lover of the impending danger.

It was not necessary.

At that moment, everything stopped.

People were frozen in their tracks. Falling objects hung in mid air. Bullets from the fired handguns were frozen in the air like flies trapped in amber. Outside, birds hung suspended in the air, their wings stopped mid-flight.

Except for Willow and Tara, all time in the immediate area had come to a halt.

Tara crawled over to Willow. She hugged her as they both cried in sorrow. For a few moments, Willow returned her lover's comforting affection.

"NO! NO! NO!" Willow cried. "It can't end like this! I won't let it end like this!"

"Willow," Tara said through heavy sets of tears, "there's nothing we can do."

"Yes there is."

Willow cradled her mother's head in her lap. The whole house darkened as storm clouds formed just below the ceiling. Tara watched in shock and amazement as Willow, _without using the ritual, the sacrifice or the use of any magical items, _summoned Osiris, the Keeper of Darkness and Guardian of the Dead, _by shear force of will._

"B_y Osiris," she commanded. Her tear-filled eyes were glowing bright red as she spoke. "Hear me, Keeper of Darkness! I command you. Bring them back! All of them! Now!"_

Just then, a thunderclap was heard and lightning rendered the air. A giant human-looking head materialized in the room. It had a kind of liquid form, like it was made out of water, and it was almost transparent. It flowed and moved like a rippled refection in a lake as it hovered a few feet away from Willow. The giant head did not look happy. In fact, it was downright mad.

"_Witch!_ How dare you invoke Osiris in this matter."

"Please!" Willow pleaded with the magical entity. "Please bring them back!"

"You can not violate the laws of natural passing."

"How? How is this natural?"

"These are human deaths. Human hands ended these lives. It is the natural order of things. It is done!"

"_NO!__There has to be a way! You must bring them back!"_

"_IT! IS! DONE!_" Osiris commanded.

"_NOOOOOO!" _Willow's scream rendered the air. A massive pulse of energy was released from her mouth that struck Osiris. The Keeper of Darkness screamed in pain before retreating back into its own dimension.

An odd calm came over Willow at that moment. For all of the years Tara has known her, she has never seen her lover react this way. Willow's expression was impossible to read. All of the anger, sorrow, and suffering she had just experienced seemed to be gone. Her eyes, which were now starting to turn black, were vacant of any emotions.

Willow used her magic to levitate the bullet out of Tara's leg and heal the wounded area before doing the same to herself.

"Come on," Willow commanded. Her voice was two octaves deeper than normal.

"Willow, what are you...?"

"I know who did this," Willow decreed.

Willow then walked out of the house with Tara in tow. Once they were far enough away, time within the Rosenberg home returned to normal.

----------------------------

Willow did know who was responsible. In fact, they were the only people in the world who would even think of trying something like this.

---------------------------

The Fearsome Five. Warren Mears, Andrew & Tucker Wells, Jonathan Levinson, and Jack. A band of former geeks turned murderous thugs. They were the self-proclaimed rulers of the Sunnydale Underworld. No one really knew Jack's last name, so everyone called him Zombie Jack. He had tried to rob a convenience store when he was 16, but the storeowner had emptied a 9mm Colt into his chest killing him instantly. A week later, his father resurrected him with an old Indian spell.

The Fearsome Five ruled Sunnydale with a complete lack of morality. They used their brains, magic, and some demonic brawn to crush the old organized crime ring in town. Within a year, they had the entire city under their control. Crime, drugs, prostitution, gambling, demonic protection rackets, they controlled it all. They ran this city like it was theirs, and they killed anyone who got in their way. They had Mayor Wilkinson in their back pocket. They made a deal with him; he got 20 of their profits if he kept the local police out of their way. Maybe it would be safer to say they had a deal with him.

That was before Buffy discovered Wilkinson's plan to become a pure demon. When the mayor tried to eat the Sunnydale High graduating class at the graduation ceremony, Buffy launched a counterattack that killed him and most of his henchmen.

After Wilkinson's death, The Five wanted someone in the mayoral seat who would be loyal to them only, so they convinced Jack's father, an unemployed drunk, to run for Mayor. To insure victory, they fixed the election.

They used an invisibility spell, a mystical cloak of silence, and their own technical expertise to break into the vote collection center. They hacked into the electoral mainframe and altered the records. Anyone who questioned the results either dropped their complaint or unexplainably disappeared. Two weeks after the election, The Fearsome Five had the new Mayor of Sunnydale totally under their control.

Once they controlled the mayor's office, the police were next. They used a system of bribes and blackmail to keep the local cops in line. Any cop who was not on their payroll was kicked off the force, threatened into silence, or killed.

Buffy, under orders from the Watcher's Council, did not try to stop them. It was considered to be a 'human matter,' so she left them alone, but they did not leave her alone. The Five saw the Slayer as a threat to their power.

They had tried to kill the Scooby Gang a couple of times in the past. Usually, they would conjure up some extremely dangerous demons, or try to lead one of them into a trap. A couple of time they had hired vampire assassins and demonic hitmen to kill Buffy, but they had never done anything like this before. This was extreme, even for them.

Willow was going to do what the legal system could not, or would not, do. She was going to find the Fearsome Five, and she was going to make them pay.

-------------------

**6:41 PM PCT. **

After the attack at the house, Willow and Tara went to Giles' house.

"Willow?" Tara asked, her eyes still puffy from the tears. "Why are we here?"

"I need power," Willow answered in a flat tone. Any trace of tears was gone from her face.

Willow magically knocked down the front door. After entering the house, she telekinetically brought Giles' entire magic book collection to her. All of Giles' books and magical items flew from the shelves and bookcases and landed on his desk. Willow stepped to the desk and placed both of her hands on the open pages. Her hands instantly sank into the books. The words flowed out of all of the books and moved across her skin, traveling up her hands, then up along her arms, across her face and into her eyes. Tara watched with quiet desperation as her lover drained all of the magic and the knowledge out of the books. When Willow removed her hands, all of the pages were empty.

Then Willow began to change again.

Her long red hair turned black. Thin, black, staggered lines formed on her face as her blood turned black and her veins showed through her skin. Her eyes were completely black now. The blood-soaked dress she wore disappeared. In its place was an all-black two-piece suit.

"That's better," Willow said.

"Willow?" Tara said in a worried voice.

"We have to find them," Willow commanded, ignoring her lover's concern.

"How? They could be anywhere."

"I know what to do."

---------------------------------

**6:51 PM PCT.**

Willow did find them. All five of them. She devised a plan to bring them to her. She combined a locater spell with an instant teleportation spell. It worked perfectly. All five members of the Fearsome Five instantly appeared in front of her.

Before they could do or say anything, Willow waved her hand and all five of them were suspended in mid-air with their arms, legs and mouths bound by energy bands.

In a kind of mock trial, Willow listed their crimes as she paced in front of them.

"Jonathan Levinson, Warren Mears, Andrew Wells, Tucker Wells, Jack. You are charged with crime against humanity: Robbery, Extortion, Cruelty and… and the murder of my friends and family. How do you plead?"

Willow removed the energy bands from around their mouths.

"IT WASN'T ME!" Tucker yelled when Willow walked up to him. "It was...!"

"Shut up, you idiot!" Warren said, cutting him off. "She's going to kill us no matter what you say. Might as well die with some dignity."

Willow stopped in front of Warren. She stared at him intensely.

"We knew you would be coming after us," Warren said as he returned her gaze. He was answering her question before she had even asked it. "Anybody who's got any kind of power in the magical realm felt your little power surge at your mom's house. Once we found out you and Tara had survived, we knew you'd come knocking. We were in the middle of setting up a nice little trap for you at the manor when you pulled a fast one and brought us here."

Willow got a bored look on her face and continued down the line. Warren was a waste of time. He was not the person she really wanted to talk to.

"I stand with my crew," Andrew said when she stopped in front of him. He was trying to talk tough, but the fear in his voice was unmistakable.

With a voice of supreme confidence Jack said, "You'll never get anything out of me. So you might as well just get it over with. I've been dead before, I always find my way back."

Willow stopped in front of Jonathan. He was the unofficial leader of the group.

Jonathan spat on the floor and said, "Plead! Come on Red. Ask the question you really want to ask. You want to know who killed your little Scooby pals at old mommy dearest's house, don't ya? Hell bitch, you know it was me. I did it. And you know what, Red? I loved every minute of it."

Willow stared at him with eyes of pure hate.

"Warren bought the hardware from the Russians, and Jack brought in some extra muscle from our contacts in San Diego. But the planning? That was all me baby. I put two guys on each corner of the house and one by every door, -that way we were sure to get everybody in the house. We knew all about your little 'coming out' dinner because we've had your place bugged for weeks."

Willow's hatred intensified.

"That's right, bitch. We've been watching you. We heard every word you've said for the past three months. We hid cameras all over your dorm. They're in your bathroom, your shower, your closet and your bedroom. Oooohh the bedroom! We got a bunch of them in your bedroom. Three to be exact, and they're all pointed at the bed. Who needs to pay for porn when you've got The WillowCam. Twice a week and two times on Sunday, you and your little friend over there," Jonathan nodded toward Tara, "put on one hell of a carpet-munching show.

"I wanted to go public and setup a pay webcam service, but they voted me down. Too bad, we could have made a ton of money. Say, what is it with you and Sundays, Red? You have some weird new fetish I don't know about, or do you just like licking your girlfriend's labia twice as often on the Lord's Day?"

Willow said nothing. She just continued to stare at him with hate-filled eyes.

"What Red! Nothing to say! Or should I call you Black now?"

Then, Jonathan started to taunt Willow even further.

"What was it like Willow? How did it feel? Watching your friends and family die? Describe their deaths. Was it quick or did it take a while? I hope it took a while. Especially that bitch Buffy. Come on Red, talk to me. Did she scream? Did she cry? Did she beg for her pathetic life? Ohh Man! I am so sorry I didn't get to hear that bitch scream!"

Willow's silent stare continued.

"Still got nothing to say, huh? The Little Red Willow Tree, just as quiet as ever. Just like all of the times I sat next to you in Biology. Remember Red? Remember all of lab assignments we did together, all of times we sat at the same table in the cafeteria? You never could bring yourself to talk to me. Na, you had your little Scooby Gang pals. You were too good to talk to someone like me. You probably don't even remember my name. Well, I'll bet you'll remember me now. Won't you, bitch!"

Willow finally broke her silence.

"You're not going to live long enough for me to remember you."

"GO TO HELL!" Jonathan yelled.

"You first," was her only reply.

The deaths Willow inflicted on all of them were horrible, but Jonathan's death was particularly atrocious.

Willow waved her hand. A bracing cold gripped the room as a large pit formed under Jonathan's feet. The pit became a portal to a particularly vicious Hell dimension. Horrifying screams of agony and wails of immeasurable sorrow were heard coming from the portal. With a flick of her finger, Willow magically threw Jonathan into the pit.

Then, in a kind of witches' revenge, Willow magically set fire to the other four. She watched emotionless, as Jonathan's partners in crime died slow and torturous deaths.

The screaming, that was what Tara would never be able to forget. The screams of pain and horror that lasted for hours as the four men slowly burned to death, thrashing about in terror. Some nights, when she sleeps, Tara swears she can still hear them.

After their bodies had completely burned away, Tara ran over to Willow. She threw her arms around the dark witch to hug her. Now that this insane ordeal was over, she desperately needed to find some comfort in her lover's arms.

Willow did not respond.

Justice had been done, but vengeance was not satisfied. Willow's dark rage still burned inside her.

"They didn't do this alone," Willow said.

"They?" Tara asked. "Who else…?"

"It's the world." Willow interrupted. "It's the whole world's fault. Buffy… Xander… Dawn… Giles… Mom and Dad, the whole world killed them. That's why everyone I love is dead, because of the whole damn world."

"Everyone who loves you is not dead," Tara said. She grabbed Willow's face and forced Willow to look at her. "I will always love you, baby."

Tara gave Willow a passionate, yet tear-filled, kiss. She had hoped it would break Willow out of her hate-induced trance.

Willow still did not return her affections. She was still lost in her pain.

"Evil," Willow said. Her anger was extreme. "This world is filled with evil. The entire world is to blame for creating these monsters. The world will just continue to make monsters like these. Unless..."

"Unless what?" Tara asked in a worried tone. Her worry was mixed with a great deal of fear.

"Unless someone stops them."

Tara instinctively knew what Willow meant. 'Someone' meant her.

"I need a spell," Willow stated. Her voice was cold and distant.

"A spell?" Tara questioned.

"A spell that will kill all of the people in the world who have evil in their soul."

Tara's fear was on the verge of being a full-blown panic.

"Willow!" Tara pleaded loudly. "Baby, listen to me! Stop this, PLEASE! You can't do this! You can't kill everyone with bad thoughts. You would be killing everyone in the world. Including yourself!"

Willow paused for a moment, her eyes fixed on Tara. Tara pleaded with her again, silently this time. She was anxiously trying to get Willow to come to her senses.

"So be it!" Willow said. Her voice was calm. Terrifyingly calm. And it was full of resolve.

Tara stood rooted in the spot where she made her final plea. She stared in disbelief as Willow calmly turned away from her. She watched as Willow opened a portal to an unknown location and slowly walked through. Once she was gone, Tara slowly snapped out of her panic-evoked daze.

Willow was going to do this. There was no doubt in Tara's mind. Not only that, as powerful as Willow currently was, she knew no one would be able to stop her.

That was the moment it hit her.

Tara knew the woman she loved had to be stopped, and she was the only person in the world who could do it.

-----------------------------

**6:59 PM PCT**

Since Willow had drained all of the books at Giles' house, Tara rushed to a place that sold magical item under the table.

Tara never told Willow about Rack and his hidden magic den. She learned about him from a friend she knew before she and Willow had met. Tara did not like keeping secret, but now, she was glad she had.

She went to Rack because he was the only other person in town powerful enough to take on Willow now. When she visited him to seek his help, he tried to seduce her. Tara was repulsed, but she pretended to go along with it. She was really waiting for him to drop his guard.

The minute he let his guard down, Tara pulled one of Willow's tricks and drained the warlock of his magic. She then drained all of his books and magical items dry.

Tara was now just as powerful as Willow.

---------------------

**7:19 PM PCT. **

Tara used her newfound power to find Willow. She reached out with her mind and searched the city for the most powerful magic signature she could find. She found her at Buffy's house. Tara instantly transported herself there.

Willow was magically destroying all of the pictures of them together when Tara confronted the woman she loved.

"I know you're hurting baby," Tara pleaded. "I'm hurting too. I don't think I can deal with this without you."

Again, Willow did not respond. Her pain, sorrow and anger at the world still rampaged through her mind. It clouded her mind, altered her judgment and fueled her ever-growing rage.

"Please Willow," Tara begged. "I need you. End this insanity and come home with me. Please!"

Willow did not listen. She was determined to end her suffering by ending the world.

Tara tried one last time to reason with her lover.

"I know you can feel it," Tara said. Her voice was not the soft pleading tone it had been. It was strong now, full of confidence and courage. "I am as powerful as you are."

Again, Willow stayed silent.

"I can't let you destroy the world. I will stop you if I have to. Please, baby. Don't make me do this."

Tara's final plea fell on deaf ears. It was no use. Willow was too far-gone.

Tara had no choice. Willow had to be stopped.

On August 23, 2005 at 7:28 PM, in the small town of Sunnydale near the California coast, the biggest magic battle in the history of the world took place.

---------------------------

**7:28 PM PCT.**

For the opening salvo, the pair hurled massive energy waves at each other. The waves hit with hurricane force, toppling homes and uprooting trees. The waves completely destroyed Buffy's house and most of her block. Both wiccas had put up force fields to protect themselves from the other's attack, leaving them unharmed by the massive waves of power and energy.

"_Better to lose hundreds," _Tara silently reasoned. _"Maybe thousands of people than to lose the whole world."_

Tara magically lifted tons of earth and rock and flung it at her lover. Willow defected the attack easily. She countered by telepathically grabbing a couple of the larger boulders and flinging them back at Tara. Tara destroyed the returning rocks with a quick wave of her hand.

Willow returned fire by turning the ground around Tara into water. Tara levitated out of the water with ease.

While still in the air, Tara fired a concentrated bolt of energy directly at Willow's chest. A bolt that powerful would have destroyed a tank, but it was useless against Willow. The force field around her held.

After she landed, Tara called upon the Goddess of the Elements to create an ice storm. The warm Sunnydale climate instantly turned into an Artic cold as a storm of ice, wind, hail, and snow froze everything in the area in seconds. When the storm has over, Willow was completely encased in a thick sheet of ice, but her imprisonment did not last long. After only a few seconds, she quickly burst out of the frosty prison. Then with a wave of her hand, Willow dispatched the storm.

Willow raised her arms skyward. Huge storm clouds rolled in, turning the bright, early evening sky to total darkness. Ten lightning bolts erupted from the clouds and struck Tara's location all at the same time. When the clouds dispersed, Tara was gone.

Seconds before the lightning had struck, Tara had teleported herself to a spot behind Willow. Tara threw an energy ball that hit Willow in the middle of her back. The attack caught Willow by surprise.

Willow, angry at being caught off guard, wanted to punish her lover. She knew Tara had a problem with insects, spiders and bees in particular.

Willow teleported every spider and bee in town to the battlefield. She used mind control to order the insects to attack Tara. The insect swarm charged at she, but none of them got close. A massive flame emanated from Tara's hands that quickly spread out into a wave of flames. Tara then directed the flames at the insects and set the swarm on fire.

Willow cast a protection spell around two of the insects to save them from being incinerated. Willow knew the swarm would never get to Tara. That was just a distraction. Her real plan was to transform just two of them.

While Tara was casting her incineration spell, Willow cast a transmogrification spell that turned the two insects into giant grotesque versions of their former beings. The wasp increased in size to over 10 feet in length, its small stinger was now the size of a harpoon. The spider grew to over 5 feet tall and 9 feet in diameter with enormous fangs that were twice its normal size.

Tara realized what Willow was trying to do, and she was not going to fall for it.

Tara pushed her fear of these creatures out of her mind. She reached into the wasp's mind and wrestled control away from Willow. Once she had full control, she ordered the wasp to attack the spider. The battle between the two freakishly oversized insects was short. Both monstrosities attacked and killed each other with their natural weapons in minutes. Afterward, their carcasses became a lime green mist that quickly dissolved into the air.

With her plan to frighten Tara into submission a total failure, Willow continued her assault.

Willow turned patches of the air around her into shard of sharp steel. The shards became flying daggers with incredible sharp tips. Willow telekinetically launched the daggers at Tara. Tara strengthened her force field. When the daggers reached her, they shattered on impact. Some swirled around her, looking for a weak spot in her shield. Tara sent a quick burst of energy out in all directions, destroying the daggers with ease.

Tara concentrated her power, readying for a single attack. She directed a bolt of blue lightning at Willow. It was a direct hit. The energy flew pass Willow's force shield like it wasn't even there. The blue lightning slammed the dark witch square in her chest, knocking her off of her feet. The attack was effective, but it did not give Tara the results she was hoping for. Willow was down but only for a second. She quickly stood and returned to the fight.

Willow gestured at the ground. Small streams of energy radiated from her hands and flew deep into the earth. Seconds later, an earthquake that registered as a five on the Richter scale erupted. Willow increased the power. The whole town shook as the quake intensified to level eight. The violent shaking jarred Tara, causing her to lose her balance. She stumbled as huge fissures formed under her feet. Because of the constant trembling, Tara did not feel the ground beneath her opening up. She fell into the large crevice. Once she was in the crevice, Willow quickly ended the quake and violently slammed the fissure shut.

There was silence for a minute. Willow just stood in the spot where she launched the attack. She wondered if the battle was truly over. Was her opponent was dead, crushed by the massive pressure of tons of rock? A second later, her question was answered. A huge pit was formed as a large beam of energy burst from the ground, throwing up tons of rock, sand and rubble. The rubble created a large dark cloud of dirt and debris. After the debris cloud cleared, Willow watched as Tara levitated out of the pit. She floated away from the center of the pit and landed on the opposite side, ready to continue the battle.

Willow opened a large portal behind Tara. She tried to throw Tara in it by hurling another massive force wave at her. It was the biggest force wave of the battle. For 6 minutes straight, Willow generated a force wave the size and strength of an F5 tornado.

The incredible power hammered Tara, but she held her ground.

When the wave finally ceased, all of Revello Drive, the high school, most of downtown, and large sections of the surrounding areas were completely destroyed. The entire east side of Sunnydale now looked like a barren desert, swept away by the violent force of the dark Wicca's power.

Tara went on the offensive.

She hurled a huge ball of energy at her opponent. Willow's force field held. She tried to bind Willow's power with energy bands, but Willow snapped the bands like dried twigs. Tara reached in the Earth with her mind and pulled tons of heavy rock from deep within the ground up to the surface. The rock formed a large stone hand that grabbed Willow, encasing her entire body in stone. Willow summoned the storm clouds again. This time the lightning struck her location, freeing her from the stone.

Tara wondered why her opponent was not fighting back when she noticed a huge shadow moving overhead. When Tara looked up, she saw a large gas tanker attached to a truck and an entire local gas station, pumps and all, hovering above her. Willow had magically lifted the tanker and the station and had moved it here all the way from the other side of town while she was busy with her attacks.

Willow threw a massive fireball at the tanker. The fireball pierced the tank's steel hull, igniting the gasoline inside.

The explosion was enormous. It had enough force to create a baseball field sized crater in the ground where Tara stood.

Tara survived the blast, but just barely. She was badly hurt. As she lay in the center of the crater, she gasped for air. Her previously injured leg was wounded again, this time by a piece of flying debris that got through her shield. Her clothes were ripped and singed and her face was heavily bruised. Her force field barely worked. It took all of her remaining energy just to keep the heat and flames from the burning gasoline away from her.

It was clear that Willow was on the verge of victory. Both women knew Tara would not survive the next attack.

Willow floated down into the burning crater. She stood over Tara's prone body as the dark Wicca readied another fireball.

Then, Willow suddenly stopped.

The tears returned as Willow looked Tara in the eyes and pleaded, "Please baby! Please make it stop! It hurts so much!"

Tara seized the opportunity.

Tara quickly thrust her hands into Willow's torso and began draining Willow's magic into herself. Once she felt the energy flowing into her body, she dissolved the flames around her.

Willow did not fight back. Her raven hair, dark clothes, and veiny skin all returned to their normal color. When Tara was done, Willow was completely powerless.

She was also dying.

Willow had given Tara everything she had, including her own life force.

Normal life energy was no longer enough to sustain Willow. Her life force had completely mixed with her dark magic. This made her body so dependent on the magic that her heart and lungs were too weak to work on their own.

"Nooo!" Tara cried. "I went too far! I'm sorry baby!"

"No... you didn't," Willow said between strained breathes. Her lungs were heavy and sore, the very act of breathing hurt. "I... gave you... everything I... had."

"Here!" Tara said through the tears. She readied a small bit of magic energy and tried to give it to her. Willow's body rejected it.

"What?" Tara started to ask.

"My body..." Willow said, "can't take... anymore... magic."

"I have to do something! I can't just let you die!"

"It's..." Cough. Cough. "It's OK."

"Nooo! NO! I can't lose you too!"

Tara hugged her lover's neck. The tears flowed again as she rocked back and forth while she cradled Willow's head in her lap. The pain of losing yet another loved one on this horrible day was almost more than her soul could bear.

"Tara?"

Tara was too deep in her own pain to hear Willow plea.

"Tara...?" Willow repeated, "Baby...?"

"Yeah?"

"Promise me... something."

"Anything!"

"Promise me... you won't... hurt people... That you won't... use... ... magic... to... cause pain... like I did...?"

Tara's tears increased.

"Promise... Me...?"

"I promise," Tara said, as she looked deeply into Willow's brown eyes and gently stroked her face.

That was the last thing Tara ever said to the love of her life. At that moment, the last ebbs of her life force slowly drained away. Willow died in Tara's arms.

---------------------------------

**The Next Day**

The battle devastated the town of Sunnydale. To the rest of the world, a bunch of people died when an out of season tornado caused a gas main to rupture in a residential area east of downtown. Tara was the only one who knew the truth.

She used her incredible new power to magically rebuild Sunnydale. She altered things slightly so the cemetery would be in the place where Buffy's home was. The headstones were also something she created magically. Their bodies had been in the morgue when it, along with most of downtown, was destroyed.

-------------------------------

**June 6, 2006. 3:20 PM PCT. **

Ever since that day, Tara has been coming to this place to visit her departed lover and friends. She still tries to make peace with what happened as she searches for answers, for solace, for some reason why all of this sorrow had to happen.

Tara thought about using her newfound power to bring them back to this plane, but she just could not bring herself to do it.

About a week after that fateful day, she used her power to contact all of them in the spirit world. They were all together and happy in a beautiful place. It would have been cruel to rip them out of heaven just so they could be with her.

So, the most powerful Wicca in the history of the world came to this graveyard everyday to mourn the deaths of her friends and to search for some meaning to it all.

* * *

END Chapter 2. 


	3. A Soldiers Story Times Two

**Chapter 3:**

A Soldiers Story Times Two

---------------------------------------

**Earth 115. June 6, 2006. 6:22 PM PCT. USA. California. Sunnydale. The Royal Oaks Bar and Grill. **

The Royal Oaks was well known as the best "blue bar" in Sunnydale. In fact, The Royal Oaks, or the R.O. as everyone called it, was the only blue bar in town. The Bronze was a hangout for teenagers. No self-respecting adult would be caught dead in there. The Silver Star was the place were all the hoods and degenerates hung out and did business. And what happened to Willy's Place was... best left unsaid. But the R.O. was different. It was clean and trouble free and that was just the way the owner liked it.

A blue bar is a place that welcomes off-duty police officers and firemen and, as stated, the R.O. was the best one in town. The walls were decorated with police and fire fighter memorabilia. A copy of Elliot Ness's badge and the handcuffs he placed on Al Capone were on display over the bar next to a picture of the famous 1920's lawman. Its dim lights, hardwood floors, smoke filled air, relaxed atmosphere, and an old jukebox in the far corner that played nothing but classic rock tunes made it not only the best blue bar in town, but the best adult bar in Sunnydale as well. About 20 men and a few women all of various ages and races sat on their wooden bar stools, smoked their cigarettes or cigars, and drank their beer as they talked with their fellow civil workers.

In the stools farthest from the door in a dark corner of the room, three old friends talked about the future.

"What the hell am I going to do now?" Charles Gunn asked. "I've been fighting the good fight for as long as I can remember. Laying some serious smackdown on vampires and demons is what I've been about for ten years. I did it as a cop. I did it as a soldier. I don't want to do anything else. I don't know how to do anything else."

"Don't worry bro," Detective Jack Bauer reassured his former partner. "You didn't lose your place in the world. You only changed it."

"But if I can't be a soldier AND I can't be a cop..."

"Then you'll find a new way to be a soldier. Or a cop."

"Did anyone ever tell you you are way too laid back?" Gunn joked.

"Some rookie told me that five years ago," Jack returned as he nudged Gunn's arm.

"Well I was right then and I'm right now. You are one joint away from being a flower child."

"I guess that's why he's the second best cop on the force and why you're sitting in the R.O. drinking beer at 6 PM," Detective Kate Lockley said.

"Second best?" Jack questioned.

Kate raised her left eyebrow as she looked at Jack. A raised eyebrow was part of the secret code they had worked out over the years. It was a silent way of telling the other person they were wrong about something. Kate was silently telling Jack she was the best cop on the force.

"Damn! She smacked you down!" Gunn quipped. Jack punched his best friend in the arm. Gunn punched him right back. They both laughed.

"I'm surrounded by five-year-olds," Kate sarcastically joked.

Jack's expression changed. It was obvious to everyone he was about to say something he knew would not be well received.

"You know Charles," Jack began, "you could always call..."

"No. I can't," Gunn interrupted.

"Can't or won't?" Kate chimed in.

"Both!"

"Charles..."

"Drop it! Both of you! Buffy is not an option. Got it." Gunn flatly stated. He locked eyes with Kate and Jack, shifting back and forth between the two. They both signaled to him that they got the message and quickly dropped the subject.

Jack looked at his watch. "I've got to get home," he said before downing the last of his beer. He got up off of his bar stool and grabbed his brown leather jacket from the coat rack.

"Teri keeping you on a short leash these days?"

"You know Charles, some of us actually like our lives."

With that Jack threw a ten-dollar bill on the table and put on his jacket.

"Hang in there buddy," Jack said as he slapped his best friend on the shoulder. "It'll work itself out in time."

"I didn't bring my car. Can I get a ride back to the station?" Kate asked her partner.

"Sure," Jack said.

Kate gave Charles a hug before the two detectives left the bar. Charles was alone now.

Alone with his beer. And alone with his thoughts.

The last few months had been a very arduous experience for Charles. He used this quiet time to reflect on everything that had happened.

---------------------------

Charles Gunn, formerly Major Gunn, was recruited by the Initiative from the Sunnydale Police Department three years ago. Alpha Squad, the lead unit in the Initiative, was on a perimeter patrol of the town when they saw him fighting two 'suckheads'. They watched in awe as a man with no special weapons or equipment dusted two vampires with ease. Major Burt Gummer, Alpha Squad's leader, bent the rules and offered Gunn a spot on the team that night. In reality, Gummer flat-out broke five documented regulations, but he was never the kind of man who blindly followed rules. It was one of the things that got him to where he was. In fact, if Gummer had followed the rules and done what the government officials told him to do, he never would have discovered, and later joined, the Initiative.

Charles hated being a cop in Sunnydale. His superior never believed him when he talked about vampires, so they gave him all of the worst assignments, and his relationship with the Slayer had completely fizzled. When Gummer explained the Initiative's mission and asked him to join, he quickly agreed. He signed on the dotted line that night and never looked back. They gave him an Initiative uniform and the rank of Specialist.

Because he had no formal military training, most of the other soldiers thought he would not last a week. After a month, the people who doubted him happily admitted they were wrong. He was the best squad member they ever had. Charles scored more kills and made more captures than anyone in the unit.

His new career was on the fast track. In three years, he had been promoted four times. The first time he became an officer. When the team's captain was killed in Brazil fighting a family of Grox'Lar Beast, Gunn took over. He saved the lives of four team members that day. He shot all the way up to 2nd Lieutenant and they made him the leader of the old captain's squad. Then there was the time he teamed up with his ex-fiancé Buffy Summers. Together they stopped a vampire named Frost and his gang from raising the Blood God. He made 1st Lieutenant after that mission. Then came the two battlefield promotions. He made Captain in San Diego when a vampire named Angelus killed his commanding officer. He made Major when Gummer died, saving his hometown from a colony of Ass Blasters.

Charles' life was going great. He was doing what he was put on this earth to do, rid the world of vampires and demons. Ever since his little sister was attacked and almost killed by a vampire when he was 14, Charles has devoted his life to protecting her, and the rest of the world, from demons.

Then, in the middle of all of this good fortune came the mission in Somalia.

Intelligence reports had indicated that a number of cities in Somalia had inexplicable gone silent. Satellite photos of the area showed that the cities of Jawhar, Afgooye and Balad and several of the surrounding villages were completely destroyed by an unknown hostile force. All of the destroyed cities had two things in common; one, they were all known military outpost of various warlords, and two, all of the bodies were eviscerated by something that could only have been a demonic creature. After a closer inspection, the science teams determined that only one kind of creature could have been responsible, a Suvolte demon.

Charles was ordered to lead a strike team into the desert. Their mission was to find and kill the Suvolte demon before it laid its eggs. Everything about this deployment had him on edge, but then everything about this mission was unsettling to say the least. There was nothing more dangerous then a Suvolte demon on the loose.

Charles and his team had tracked the demon to a small village on the edge of the Sahara. There they discovered the truth. A local warlord held the demon in a cage at his compound. Problem was, the compound was in the middle of a civilian village.

Intelligence reports said this warlord hired a local shaman to bring the demon to this dimension. The report also said the warlord planned to use it as a kind of biological weapon. He was going to drop it in the middle of an enemy camp and let it kill everyone in sight.

Charles could not allow that to happen. If this demon got loose, hundreds of people would be in danger.

Charles knew what had to be done. He radioed headquarters and told his superiors the situation. After a short wait, Charles received the go-ahead to attack by his commanding officer. He ordered his team to attack the compound.

The raid was successful. Both the warlord and the Suvolte demon were killed. Charles himself was injured and his team suffered heavy causalities in the intense fighting.

The raid was a success, but the mission was a failure. Several dozen innocent civilians were killed in the crossfire.

A BBC news crew, which was in the area investigating the lost cities, heard the battle and rushed to the camp. Cameras rolled as Gunn and squad battled it out with the warlord's men. By the end of the day, the video footage of the bloodstained, bullet-ridden bodies of men, women and children were all over the International News Wire. The headlines around the world read 'American Military Slaughters Somalian Nationalist'.

-----------------------------

The US government was in an awkward position. They had no authority to enter a sovereign country with a military force. They had even less authority to overthrow an established military leader. Then there was the problem of why they were there. The U.S. government was not going to stand on the floor of the U.N. and say they were hunting demons. They needed a way out. A scapegoat. Charles was that scapegoat. He was court-martialed for disobeying a direct order and for violating a sovereign nation's established borders.

During his very public court-martial, Captain Riley Finn, Gunn's friend and Second-In-Command, was ordered to testify. Riley had a decision to make. If he lied the Initiative promised him any assignment he wanted, even early retirement if he wanted it. If he told the truth, that Gunn had permission to attack the compound, he would save Gunn's reputation and career, but then they would make him the scapegoat.

Riley chose to lie.

In his testimony, Riley said Gunn was out of control. He said Gunn was given a direct order not to attack the compound, and he knowingly defied that order. Major Gunn was given a dishonorable discharge with no jail time. That was four days ago.

------------------------------------------

Charles sat on a bar stool nursing his beer. He knew that as soon as he finished his beer he would have to make a decision. Either leave the bar or become one of those people who were drunk before 7 PM. He resigned himself to the former. He finished the rest of his beer in one gulp. He tossed a $20 to the bartender and told him to keep it before walking out. Now Charles faced a new problem. Where to go?

* * *

**Earth 128. October 14, 2005. 10:02 PM PCT. USA. California. The Suburbs of San Diego. The former home of Riley and Samantha Finn. **

Riley Finn sat on the main staircase in his former home. He was brooding. Again. His mood was a perfect match for his surroundings, dark, gloomy, and unkempt. This was nothing new. All he ever did nowadays was sit in the darkness and think about the past.

A gentle breeze entered the dilapidated house through one of the many shattered windows, blowing leaves and dirt across the formerly elegant hardwood floor.

As he sat alone in the darkness, his legs tightly pressed into his chest with his arms wrapped tightly around them, his chin buried deep within the crevice of his knees, he stared at the chalk outline of her body. Years of negligible housekeeping and the natural passage of time had eroded the lines, leaving their definition barely visible.

Riley thought about removing the outline altogether. A quick wipe with a damp rag and the yellow chalk rendering of his dead wife's body would forever be gone from his sight, and possibly from his mind.

Riley never acted on that impulse. This tracing of chalk was all he had left. It was his only keepsake, the last remaining token of his former life and a crude shrine to his lost love. Losing it would be the same as losing her all over again.

The past, it always comes back to the past. Riley remembered it all like it was yesterday. It was not that long ago, only a few years in fact, but it felt like centuries had passed since he had lost his humanity.

The good old days. When he was human. When he and Sam had a life together. Before he destroyed everything he loved. Before he was turned into a soulless monster. And definitely before he was turned into whatever he is now.

As Riley sat alone in the darkness of his former home, he cursed the day he crossed paths with William The Bloody.

------------------------------

**March 17, 2003. 10:12 PM PCT. The sewer system junction two miles outside of downtown Sunnydale.**

The Initiative sent Riley and his team into the abandoned town of Sunnydale on a routine mission. Their orders were to capture some S.T.H.'s for study.

The team was making its way through one of the large sewers passages when they stumbled across a nest of vampires. Standing orders were to engage and destroy any hostiles that were not part of the mission, so Riley ordered his team to attack the vamps with no thought of capture. No quarter was asked, and none was given.

Riley and his team had things under control. They used their advanced equipment, well practiced teamwork and military training to quickly gain the upper hand. The Initiative soldiers were easily destroying the leaderless vamps.

Then he showed up.

William The Bloody, or Spike as he preferred to be called, killed two members of his six-man team with ease. Brawling was Spike's specialty and there was nothing the vampire loved more than a good tussle. When Riley ordered the surviving team members to retreat, the three remaining Initiative soldiers fell back as ordered. Riley stayed behind to cover their escape.

That was when things turned ugly.

Riley fired his electro-pulse rifle furiously into the attacking horde, killing several vamps. He fought so fiercely that he managed to completely drain his weapon of energy, forcing him to fight hand-to-hand. He was barely holding his own against the regular vamps when Spike confronted him. The platinum haired vampire quickly overpowered Riley, violently sinking his fangs into Riley's neck. Spike drained most of Riley's life away before he opened a vein in his wrist and forced Riley to drink his blood.

Several hours later, Riley began his new life as a vampire.

When Riley crawled out of his makeshift grave, Spike asked him if he knew of a place where they could get a good meal. He did. Riley led Spike to his home. Samantha, Riley's wife of two years and fellow Initiative soldier, invited him in without a second thought. Riley killed his wife and shared her blood with his sire.

Everything would have been fine if Riley had stayed a soulless monster, but he did not. One day he was out hunting when he ran across two young women, a blonde and a redhead, alone on the UCLA campus after dark.

That was a hard meal.

Both of the women were witches. They could move things and create fires with only the power of their minds. In fact, they almost killed him.

The redhead used her telekinesis to throw him against a tree, while the blonde began saying an incantation that caused his shirt to catch fire. Riley barely got his shirt off before the fire consumed him. He got close enough to the redhead to grab her. He knocked her unconscious by throwing her against a nearby tree. He surprised the blonde with a leg sweep. Riley caught her as she fell. He bit deep into her neck and quickly drained the young blonde woman dry. He wanted the redhead too, but a small crowd of people heard the commotion and started to run over. Riley decided not to confront the crowd and ran away.

Two days later, something strange happened, something that changed his new 'life' forever.

Riley was alone in the abandoned office building that Spike and his other sires called home when he felt hungry. He remembered that the other vamps had a homeless kid locked up in one of the other rooms. He knew they were saving the kid for themselves, but he was hungry now. Why hunt when you have a four-course meal at home?

Minutes after draining the kid, a bizarre feeling came over him. Thousands, possibly millions, of images and sounds hammered Riley's mind. It was like someone had turned on an extremely loud television and he could not plug his ears or divert his eyes. He suddenly knew every detail of the kid's life. The kid's name, the friends had before he ran away, his memories of his mother, the day his mom died, his life alone with his father, the day he ran away, his life on the streets and the few new friends he made, Riley knew it all. Every time the kid's father smacked him around, Riley could feel every blow. On the days the kid couldn't score any money and he had to eat out of a restaurant dumpster, Riley could literally taste the rotten food. Every memory right up to the vampires kidnapping him and Riley killing him flooded his mind like a tidal wave.

Then the other images came. These new images and sounds were not just from this kid's memories. They were the memories, lives, and emotions of every one of Riley's victims. Riley saw every evil deed he had ever done through his victim's eyes. Every face, every detail of their lives, every scream, every terrified look, every sound his victims made and every ounce of pain they felt when he killed them rushed through his mind in vivid detail.

Riley thrashed violently the floor. He screamed at the top of his airless lungs in intense pain as the endless images and memories hammered his mind. He covered his ears and tightly closed his eyes as he flailed about, desperate to stop the onslaught.

Riley knew what had happened to him when the memories of the witch he killed came to the surface. From her memories, he knew that her name was Tara Maclay and that her living, redheaded friend was Amy Madison. He saw through her eyes the day they meet, how they became friends and how their friendship grew, and the day they both joined the covenant. That was when he saw them.

The Covenant of Ra'an, five of the most powerful witches in the state of California, gathered in a circle, reciting an incantation. He instinctively knew that the covenant had cursed him with a soul. His feelings of guilt and remorse that had long been forgotten were now rushing to the surface, hammering his mind with relentless sorrow.

Knowing the lives his other victims was bad enough, but it was Sam's memories that plagued him the most. Their first date, their first kiss, the night he proposed, their wedding and a dozen other happy memories from Sam's mind flooded his. He desperately tried to hold on to the happy memories, but he never could. His guilt always brought him back to the same place. The trust she felt the night he returned home as a vampire and the way that feeling changed to one of fear when she realized her mistake.

Then came the pain. Riley felt every bit of Sam's pain and terror as the man she loved mercilessly murdered her. That was the memory that replayed in his mind over, and over, and over again.

That was four years ago. Since then he has been here, in his former home. Riley became a squatter in his own home. The place was abandoned after Sam's body was found. With no way to contact him, the house was in limbo. Plus, no one wanted to buy it after they learned a mysterious murder occurred there, so the house remained abandoned. Another reminder of the life he once had.

Unable to bare the weight of another human memory on his new soul, he fed off of rats and vermin. For reasons only he understands, Riley put his old Initiative uniform back on. He has not worn anything else since.

One day, a man named Whistler came to the house. He told Riley that a time would come when he would have to make a choice. Become a champion or return to being a monster. Riley had no way of knowing that moment would be right now.

* * *

END Chapter 3. 


	4. The Slayer and the Blonde Bombshell

**Chapter 4: **

The Slayer and the Blonde Bombshell

------------------------------------------------

**Earth 128. June 6, 2006. 11:32 PM PCT. USA. California. The Suburbs of San Diego. The former home of Riley and Samantha Finn. **

Riley smelled blood. Human blood. The fact that he could tell the difference sickened him. Someone close by was bleeding. A lot.

Riley decided to investigate. Part or him did not want to go, but curiosity and hunger got the better of him. He searched for over an hour before he found the source, a warehouse several blocks away from his former home.

Riley heard the sounds of combat coming from within the warehouse. He used his enhanced sense of hearing to learn more.

"_It's not a firefight,"_ Riley pondered. "_No. That's a fistfight. Those are definitely the sounds of hand-to-hand combat." _

The smell of blood was much stronger now. Riley realized both the combat and the smell were coming from the same place.

Riley entered the warehouse through an open window. He found a good hiding spot between two crates that let him see everything and still stay downwind.

Three vampires and a Kaliff demon were fighting with a beautiful woman in an unusual outfit. She looked to be about 22-years-old with wavy jet-black hair that came down to her shoulders, and an athletic build. She wore a one-piece, black, vinyl outfit with matching long black boots. The outfit covered her entire body except for her hands and head. Also odd about the outfit was the fact that it showed a good deal of her cleavage. It had a plunging V-shaped neckline that came down to the middle of her chest.

As Riley watched at her fight, an anxious sensation came over him. Something about this girl screamed danger to him. The fact that she was holding her own against three vampires and a demon was the clincher. This girl was a Vampire Slayer.

Riley never saw a one up close before, but Spike told him and the others all about them. Slayers, young girls born with the power to kill vampires. They have the strength, skill, and speed of a vampire but none of the limitations. Spike said he killed one during the Boxer Rebellion in China. Riley never doubted that story until now.

The Slayer was impressive. It was like watching a violent ballerina. Her movements were fast and fluid. She didn't waste a single motion; every punch, kick and block flowed right into the next. The few times one of the vampires or the demon did manage to land a blow, she would quickly shake it off and continue fighting. Even though she was outnumbered four to one, Riley knew the Slayer was going to win this fight.

Then he saw it.

Riley watched as the Kaliff Demon retreated to the far corner of the warehouse. It used its incredible strength to lift one of the large wooden crates. It held the crate over its head as it moved behind a crane. Riley knew what the demon had in mind. While the vampires kept the Slayer busy, the demon was going to circle around, get behind her, and hit her with the crate. It was a solid plan, but the Slayer was knocking those vampires around pretty hard. For the plan to work, the demon would have to move fast.

"_What do I do?"_ Riley contemplated. "_Do I help distract the Slayer or do I stop the S.T.H? If I help, maybe they would share some of the blood? Spike did say Slayer's blood was the best he had ever tasted. And if she is already dead when I drink her, I might not get her memories. What do I do?" _

Riley lost sight of the Kaliff demon. It went behind some crates that were out of his line of sight.

"_Moment of truth,"_ Riley thought. "_Help the vampires or help the Slayer."_

He only had a few seconds to decide. If Riley was going to act, it would have to be now.

--------------------------------

Faith was 'in the zone' as she put it. Her mind and body were completely connected. Every move was exactly as she had envisioned. Every punch landed; every kick was right on the money.

She had dusted one of the four vampires she had tracked to this warehouse earlier, but she had to use her stake like a throwing knife to do it. Dusting the rest of them would require some ingenuity. The odd thing was, she lost track of the Kaliff Demon.

"_Took off!"_ she thought. _"Can't handle the skills! But why is a Kaliff Demon helping vampires? Demons see vampires as the red-headed stepchildren of underworld." _

That quandary would have to wait.

One of the male vamps launched itself into the air and dove at her with a flying front kick. Faith blocked the aerial attack easily by grabbing the male vampire's ankle and pulling it past her body, sending the vampire diving, chest first, to the floor. She flipped over the fallen male vampire's prone body, and used her momentum as added power to kick the one female vampire in the head. The other male vampire tried to rush her. It threw a right cross at Faith's head, but Faith blocked the punch and landed two of her own, one to its jaw and another to its right eye. Then she spun around and nailed the male vampire in the head with a perfectly executed tornado kick. The blow knocked the male vampire off its feet, sending it flying backward into one of the crates. Its body shattered the wooden crate. Among the debris was a large piece of wood with a sharp point on it that was sticking straight up from the ground.

'Greg Louganis', the male vampire that tried the flying dive attack earlier, had recovered from its fall and was up off the floor. Faith liked to give the vampires and demons she fought little nicknames. It was her way of keeping things straight when she reported the kills to her Watcher. It drove Wesley nuts, but that was the point. Watching him cringe during debriefings was half the fun.

'Greg' was looking for a little payback in the form of a high round kick. After Faith ducked under the kick, she kicked 'Greg' in the stomach then landing an upper cut on his jaw. The other male vamp wanted in. It tried a back kick to Faith's chest at the same moment 'Greg' tried to land a roundhouse right to her jaw. Faith dodged the kick and blocked 'Greg's' punch in the same move.

The female vampire joined the action a second later. It too tried to land a roundhouse kick on Faith's chest. It did not fair any better. Faith easily deflected the female's kick, but the other male vampire used the distraction to kick her in the lower back. It was a hard blow, but Faith was ready for it. She used the momentum from the kick to roll herself forward. This gave her some extra fighting room and it moved her closer to the upturned piece of wood.

The three vamps came running. It was just what Faith wanted them to do. She threw a straight jab at the nearest one knowing it would easily dodge the attack. It did. The male vamp tried to hit her with a right cross, but failed. After Faith dodged the punch, she grabbed the bloodsucker by the wrist and pulled it into the path of the other two charging vampires. The male and the female vampires crashed into one another, causing both of them to fall to the floor. 'Greg' stopped just in time to avoid the collision.

"It's just you and me baby," Faith told 'Greg'. "Come to mama!"

'Greg' charged at Faith. The vampire landed a straight kick to Faith's stomach that knocked her back a few feet. Then 'Greg' went for a short jab. Faith was ready for the attack. She easily deflected the punch.

Faith decided it was time to end this fight.

She grabbed the male vampire by its shirt; pulled it close to her; put her right arm around the center of its chest; threw 'Greg's' left arm behind her back; kicked its feet out from under it while, at the same time, she picked the vampire up off the ground; then she slammed both of their bodies down using her and 'Greg's' body weight as force, impaling 'Greg' on the makeshift stake. The vampire instantly turned to dust.

"A perfect Rock Bottom," Faith quipped. "Who says there's nothing educational on TV anymore?"

When the remaining two vampires saw their friend die, 'Jesse Owens' and 'Jackie Joyner-Kersee' decided to dine elsewhere as both vampires ran for the exit. Faith kicked the unturned piece of wood she just dusted 'Greg' with free, and threw the sharp hunk of wood like a javelin. The makeshift stake hit 'Jesse Owens' in the back and went all the way through to the vampire's heart. Faith watched as the last male vamp turned to dust.

She was about to go after 'Jackie' when she heard a noise behind her. Faith turned as fast as she could, but it was too late. A wooden crate almost twice her size hit her square in the chest. If she were not the Slayer, the blow would have killed her instantly. Instead, she was only knocked unconscious.

-----------------

Riley realized he was too late when he saw the Slayer go down.

"_Time for Plan B,"_ he thought.

"Hey there!" he said in a pleasant voice as he approached. He surprised the Kaliff Demon. It quickly turned to face him.

"Care to share?" He gestured at the fallen Slayer.

The demon gave Riley the once over. He was not impressed.

"Get out!" the demon demanded. "This is my kill."

"OK," Riley said. He made a gesture like he was begging off, but he still continued to approach. "I just want the blood."

"Feed somewhere else, Vampire Scum!"

The demon turned its back to Riley as it continued to walk toward the downed Slayer.

Riley leaped onto the demon's back and grabbed it by its neck. After a short struggle, Riley broke the demon's neck. He made sure the demon was dead before he turned his attention to the fallen Slayer. He moved the partially shattered crate off of her unconscious body before he knelt next her. He checked her vitals. She was alive. Hurt and banged up, but definitely alive. The Slayer was bleeding. The blow from the crate created a large open wound on her chest.

That was the moment it hit him. The smell of blood that lured him here was not coming from her.

----------------------

Harmony Kendall hated waiting. She hated it even more when she was alone. When Faith tracked three vampires to this warehouse, she gave Harmony a spare stake and told her to wait here until she got back. That was 20 minutes ago.

Harmony paced back and forth by the front door of the warehouse. Her high-heeled, sandal-toed, Gucci shoes made a seemingly endless string of clicking noises as they hit the pavement. Faith told her not to wear those shoes, but they matched the black, spaghetti strap, cocktail dress she wore perfectly.

Fashion above functionality. That was Harmony's motto. If Faith was going to wear that jet-black, curve-hugging, look-at-me-I-dress-like-a-hooker number of hers, then she was not going to be upstaged. Boys could be anywhere. A girl has got to look good at all times. That was Harmony's other motto.

" 'Wait outside' she said," Harmony said out loud to no one. " 'You'll be safe here' she said. All alone. In the dark. With bats, and snakes, and spiders, and rats, and who knows what other bloodsucking things around."

Faith gave her a stake, but she knew Harmony did not know how to use it. She did it just to shut her up.

"That is it!" Harmony said to the warehouse door. She talked to it like it was Faith, "I will not be treated like this. I will not stand around in some dark and spooky place with wild animals, and creepy insects, and monsters running around. This is the last time I will wait around for you. Ever! I am your partner damn it! And I demand some respect!"

Just then, an owl hooted in the distance. Harmony panicked. She shrieked as she dropped the stake. She quickly reached down to picked it up, but she was too scared and too clumsy. She tripped on her shoes and fell to the ground. The stake started to roll away from her, but she was quick enough to reach forward and grab it. Once Harmony got a good grip on the stake, she stood up straight, put her back against the wall of the warehouse, and held the stake tightly with both hands in the middle of her chest. It took her a minute to realize that the sharp end was pointed at her chest. She twirled it around so that the pointy end was away from her.

"No!" she declared as she fought back her fear. "I will not be afraid anymore! Faith is my partner! She needs me! I am going to go in there and help her! Whether she likes it or not!"

Harmony adjusted her dress and checked her stake before opening the door.

"Pointy end out."

At that second, the surviving female vampire came running out the door. The vampire ran right into her. As they both fell to the ground, Harmony kept her grip on the stake. It was at the perfect height and angle. That and the vampire's own momentum caused the stake to accidentally plunge into the female vampire's heart. Harmony just staked her first vampire without even trying.

Harmony coughed up the vampire dust that flew into her lungs while she lay on the ground. She stood on shaky legs as she checked herself out.

"Awww! My Dior!" Harmony brushed the dust off of her dress with her hands. When she looked up, she saw a handsome man in the middle of the warehouse knelling next to someone. Because of the angle she could not see who it was. She hurriedly tried to fix herself up.

"A girl's always got to look good my behind," Harmony was talking to her dead mother this time. "You try looking fabulous with dead vampire all over you."

---------------

Riley heard the commotion by the front door. He turned and saw a young blonde woman standing by the front door of the warehouse. She looked very... dirty.

"Are you alright Miss?" Riley asked.

The young woman quickly struck an S curve pose as she flashed a sexy smile.

"I'm fine. How are you?" she said in a sweet girly voice. She noticed the Slayer lying next to him.

"Faith!" she called out. Apparently, the Slayer has a name. And a friend.

The woman rushed over as fast as she could, but her high-heeled shoes were slowing her down. When she reached the Slayer, she knelt beside her and cradled her head.

"What happened?"

"Kaliff Demon hit her with a crate. It won't be a problem." Riley pointed his thumb at the demon's body a few feet away.

"What's a Kiefer demon?"

"_This girl is obviously a non-combatant,"_ he thought. "_She doesn't even know basic demonology." _

"Never mind," he dismissed. "You have a name?"

Harmony gently released Faith's head. She pulled her hair back behind her ears to expose her smile. Mom always said it was her best feature.

"I'm Harmony," she replied as she held out her hand. "And you are?"

"Riley," he replied as he shook her hand. "Riley Finn."

"Well Riley Finn, you are a true angel of mercy."

* * *

END Chapter 4.

Get It. An Angel of mercy. :)

**END BOOK 1**

A/N: AHHDU ADU ADU THUY THAT'S ALL FOLKS! That is as far as I got. All of the characters have been introduced and there histories have been laid out. Don't fear gently reader, there's a lot more to come. Book 2 will be the gathering of our heroes. Book 3 will be the battle for the Multiverse. And Book 4 will be the exciting conclusion. So stay tuned.


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